Railroad in Mainer’s death criticized for safety ‘failure’

HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is calling on the Metro-North Railroad to notify local authorities when one of its trains strikes an object.

The Connecticut Democrat says in a letter to Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Thomas Prendergast that an accident that apparently killed a woman last week in Westport demonstrates a “continued failure in safety policies and culture.”

Annette White, a 46-year-old Maine resident who had been living in Connecticut since July, was found dead Friday in the Saugatuck River near the tracks. A Metro-North spokesman said the train crew reported striking something on a bridge over the river a day earlier, when it made an emergency stop, notified the railroad’s traffic control and searched the area.

Blumenthal says the railroad should have provided information to local authorities.

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